People to know...

I'm going to try something a little bit different this time. In honor of all the Kierkegaard and Buber that I have been reading these days, I will assume for the minute that my life is more relational than sequential, and I will relay the events of my life in categories of the people that I have lived it with for the past month. Who remembers life in chronological order anyway? Now, this list is not conclusive by any means, there are far more people in my life than I will write about, but these are a few of the newcomers I would like to introduce you all to.

First and foremost, there is Mr. Wesley McKain.

Wes was a very good friend of mine in college, but we've never actually lived together. He spent so many nights in our apartments studying you could say that he might has well have, but the fact remains, this is the first time I've ever actually lived with the guy, and I must say, it's been great. He and I seem to think in very similar ways, and we have had one too many late night conversations as a result (I fell asleep while writing this). He works at Luz y Vida as a teacher's assistant, or as a personal tutor, but he probably won't be an assistant for long. Wes has an almost unnatural desire to learn Spanish. He will stay up late with flashcards and lists of verbs, write down every word he doesn't know from a meeting held in Spanish, talk to every stranger he meets, and as I write, he is in a four-hour-long intensive Spanish course he attends every week. He's a dear friend, and I am extremely blessed to have him here with me.

Wes and I have been spending a lot of time with two other young men, one from England and the other from Australia. Their names are Luke and John, respectively.

The four of us will go out to explore different parts of the the city from time to time, and I'm sure we are quite the sight to see. Still, four is much better than one, and the added safety is nice when walking the streets of Bogotá at night.

We four are actually part of an even larger group of "monos" that work here at Formando Vidas. There are 8 of us in all. The aforementioned four, plus Ryan, Adrienne, Liz, and Abbey. We have started meeting every Sunday night to share meals and get to know each other. This newly formed community is another very welcome addition to my life.

We 8 celebrated Wes's 23rd birthday together, taking him out to a Chinese restaurant in the rich part of town, where we all reveled in food that was not rice and/or beans. A few days later we got together again to attend a peace rally held in downtown. Those of you that keep up with international news may have heard about it. Tens of thousands of people were there, packed into the central plaza, and among them were eight rather conspicuous gringos. We all wore shirts that said "I am Colombia" and took part in chants that started off with "Who are we? Colombians!" No one seemed to mind the obvious lie, least of all, us. It was enlivening to see all of those people uniting together to make a political statement of peace.

As if this weren't enough, we have all made it a point to become more culturally sensitive by learning how to Salsa and Merengue. One of the ladies that works at Luz y Vida gives us lessons every week or so, and we practice in Liz, Ad, and Abbey's new house out in the western parts of Bogotá. We added even further to our growing Colombian credibility by attending our first soccer game in the national stadium. It was a Bogotá team, Santa Fe, against a team from Argentina, and I'm proud to say that we won 3-0. For those of you who have been to a serious soccer game, you know the intense amounts of energy that exudes from die hard futbol fans. There was a whole section of the stadium that literally did not stop jumping the entire game (over 2 hours) and screamed all sorts of Spanish vulgarities at the other team...in unison. Well...now that I think about it, they did settle down a bit when the riot police broke into their midst and began to beat them senselessly with nightsticks. But it didn't take them long to redirect their vulgarities to the police and renew their unending hopping.

Then there was the team of YWAMers that came to Colombia all the way from Kona, Hawaii. This was the same team I translated for in the jungle, but the fun didn't end there. They spent a month here in Bogotá, helping us out a lot, and visiting other ministries in their spare time.

I traveled with them to a million places around the city, many of which I had never been to before, but my favorite by far was a community called La Perseverancia. This mountainside community is known for being extremely dangerous, and when we were walking there, several complete strangers told us to turn around. Not the most encouraging omen. When we got there, however, we found a quaint little community with a spectacular view and about a hundred little kids to enjoy the natural beauty with. We rock climbed, played games, and hiked to a waterfall/pool of crystal clear mountain water. I don't have to tell you that it was one of the best days I've had since being here.

Perhaps the second biggest highlight for me, personally, was the circus. Yes, that's right, the circus. But not just any circus, the Mexican circus. It's a lot like the normal circus, except everyone dances more than usual and everything is in a ridiculous, flamboyant Spanish. Oh, and Mickey Mouse was there for some reason.

That whole team was so welcoming and loving, and the goodbye was a tearful one (after the traditional party games and salsa dancing, of course). They meant a lot to me, and I grew unusually close to many of them, so I feel like I ought to thank them by name.

Amanda, Heather, Renee, Marcia, Martin, Nate, Kat, Rebecca, Zach, Mary Beth, Emily, and Felicia, I love you all and you will be missed greatly.

Last but not least on my list of amazing people is Mary. Mary is my new hero in life. Mary is 63 years old, and she has 11 grandchildren. She also lives in the most dangerous place in Bogotá. Let me explain.

Mary works with me at Luz y Vida as the resident art teacher. Several years ago, she felt God calling her to work with streetkids in Colombia. She spent a few years in Spain learning the language, and then came here to work with Formando Vidas. This, however, is not her only job.

I may have already mentioned this area, and if so, allow me to expand on it. Cazuca is an area in the far Southwest part of the city, and it is one of the poorest. At last count, 76% of the population was under the poverty level, and the majority of the people that live here have been displaced by the violence that has torn apart this country for the last 40 years. This area, up until recently, has been completely run by paramilitary groups and gangs. Only in the last few months have the police made any sort of headway up into the hilltop community. Mary has, every Saturday and without fail for the past year and a half, visited Cazuca to work with the children that live there. As soon as she felt it was safe enough, I began to tag along. On one of these Saturdays, Mary, her friend Gonzalo and I were walking to the top of the hill, when she told me we were going to buy a house.

I thought she was kidding.

She now lives in a blue house at the top of Los Altos de Cazuca, alone, but happy. She is planning to start a drop-in center for the kids there, and I hope to help as much as I can. I still visit her every Saturday, and greet her at the door at school every morning. Like I said, she is my hero, er...heroine, and I am constantly inspired by her courage.

Things are picking up speed as far as school goes. I am teaching Math and Science to all of the classes, and I am responsible for the administration duties of the youngest class. It's a big load, and thus far I have been drowning in it, but hopefully things will calm back down into some semblance of a routine. That's all for now. Thanks for listening (reading)!

Tyler

Las Amazonas!!!

So, it happened like this. My esteemed traveling partner, Adrienne, got it into her head that we would be traveling to the Amazons for Christmas. It sounded great...and insane...much like all of her other traveling ideas (let's go to Cuba illegally, and then to the most dangerous country in the Western Hemisphere!). I had my doubts, seeing as how we had no legitimate contacts in that area, and it was already December when we were deciding all of this. However, things, as they seem to do for us, worked out. We met the leaders of the YWAM base in that area, and they mentioned that a group was coming from Hawaii, and they needed some translators.

We volunteered before they finished their sentence.

So, on New Year's Eve, we packed our backpacks and boarded a plane for Leticia, Colombia, a town of 200,000 located on the very southern tip of the country. We celebrated the ushering in of 2008 with our new Hawaiian and Colombian friends, and the following day, Adrienne, Fabian (who also works with Formando Vidas, and who was also there to translate) and I walked to Brazil, took a boat across the Amazon, and had an Inca Kola in Peru...just because we could. That puts the "Countries That Tyler Has Visited Even For Just One Day" list into the double digits.

Not like I'm counting or anything.

We spent a few days in Leticia, preparing for our upcoming trip deep into the jungle by buying clothing that would protect us from the flying death-bugs these people called mosquitos, while still keeping us from dying of heat stroke. When the day finally came, we took a motorboat 3 hours upriver to a community called La Maloka, where we set up shop at in the school building. The people here were very warm and welcoming, which is strange when you imagine what would happen if a bunch of indigenous people just waltzed into your suburban cul-de-sac and started playing with your kids.

The people here wore western clothes, so their village would never make it into National Geographic, but have no doubt, it was indeed the Amazon. These people would shoot arrows (which I shot) into the muddy waters of the Amazon River (which I swam in) and kill several large, black suckerfish (which I ate...whole). Something about the closeness to nature in which these people lived brought out the primal nature in me. I took off my boots, and trekked barefoot through the mud, which was a horrible idea, because after the first day, my feet were covered in mysterious red spots that itched like mad. I climbed trees to get coconuts, which was also unfortunate, because I hate coconuts, and I was then obliged to eat the spoils of my efforts. I had no fear of the wildlife, and would play with tarantulas and snakes as if they were children's toys. That one was also probably stupid, but I didn't get hurt, so it all worked out.

We spent the majority of our time playing with the kids, planning our nightly services, and waiting for the daily torrential downpour to arrive so that the temperature would drop below 1,890,265 Celsius. A good time seemed to be had by all, and we were quite sad to leave, but there was something about the cold, blank stare of the hideous fish that lay in my daily soup that made it a little easier to return to civilization.

Back in Leticia, we recovered from our little excursion, while we took full advantage of modern amenities like ice cream, oscillating fans, and showers that are more than just standing outside during a rainstorm. We didn't simply engage in leisure activities, though. We visited some neighborhoods, made some friends, and played some soccer (pronounced fooootball), which, by the way, I am getting pretty good at. At the end of the week, we prepared for departure once again, loading everything onto the USS Gringo, and went ever farther into the Heart of Darkness.

The two communities we visited finally topped rural Guatemala as the most beautiful place that my eyes have ever seen, and despite the evil parrot that would attempt to decapitate you every time you used the bathroom, it was paradise. We only spent a few days in this Eden, and then a day or two getting things ordered in Leticia, and it was home-sweet-Bogota once again.

When I got home, things had changed a bit. I left our house with Ryan and David, and I came back with the same Ryan (if not a bit frazzled) but no David, a family of 3 and a golden Labrador. David ran away again, and two ex-members of the ministry and their son (and his dog) took his place. Their names are David, Yanira, little Lucas, and Toby the dog. On top of all of that, my very good friend Wes McKain flew in the day after I got back, and it has been wonderful having him around.

Life is rather hectic these days. I am showing Wes the ropes, still translating for the Hawaii team (who will be here in Bogota for another few weeks), and preparing for my classes. The little tykes start school the 5th of February, and I will either be Science teacher for all classes, or I will have my own little troupe of kiddos that I will be wholly responsible for. Either one means more responsibility, but I am looking forward to getting more involved in their lives.

Well, that's it for now. Until next time,

Tyler